Friday, February 18, 2011

The Magicians

After a very hectic fall, the Paige Turners are back to normal. And with the presence of brownies, banana bread, veggies, and five eccentric girls, we had a lovely gathering last night.

The topic of conversation was Lev Grossman's book The Magicians. The back cover describes it as a grown-up version of Harry Potter blended with Narnia. Our collective group opinion was slightly different.

It wasn't one of our favorite books. A few girls were deeply bothered by some of the content and language. We did discuss several interesting topics: growing up, teenage ennui, revisiting childhood stories, the affect of power, maturity, sexuality, dynamics of small groups, faith and confidence. But what frustrated us all was the lack of something to root for. We didn't feel any like the story took us (or the characters) anywhere, nor was there someone we could get get behind as a hero (tortured soul variety included).

We've put this one behind us and are looking forward to Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.